MAJOR WINE BRANDS RAISE A GLASS TO NEW MERGER

The folks at liquor retailers TWS Wholesale and Online Liquor Group know this better than most, and are set to capitalise the holiday season and beyond by merging their flagship brands.

Online Liquor Group's Cracka Wines, My Wine Guy and Winegrowers direct is set to join forces with TWS Wholesale's The Wine Society, in a move that will grow both companies' foothold in the direct-to-consumer wine sector.

The new business will have a combined customer base of more than 400,000 customers nationwide, and existing leaders Lloyd Heinrich and Dean Taylor will run the new enterprise as joint CEOs.

According to Heinrich, online sales are a strong growing market, one that the new business will be strongly focused on.

"With total revenue of $400.5 million in 2016-17, online sales represent just 4 per cent of the overall liquor market in Australia," says Heinrich.

"Online is the fastest growing channel in Australian retail and with our combined credentials, we'll be a significant player in this space with the expertise to grow quickly."

Dean Taylor says that his company Cracka Wines decided to forgo a capital raising round upon its merger with TWS Wholesale.

"Cracka Wines had planned to be the first company in Australia to complete a crowd-funded capital-raising project but instead saw the merit in joining forces with The Wine Society," says Taylor.

"The Wine Society is one of Australia's most respected and trusted wine brands."

"The merger will see us provide a broader based network of members to our suppliers and a far superior product range to our members."